Striking A Wave

INCESTICIDE
12/15/92

The public hungry for more Neervanna got an odds 'n' ends compilation of tracks recorded between 1988 and 1991. So, so thankful my parents didn't scrutinize my musical purchases.

"Dive"--My favorite Nirvana song. The rest of Incesticide is lucky I even got around to it. Imagine the sweat dripping off a nihilistic EMT mid-CPR. I'd send streams down both legs if I ever ran into "Dive" in a well-lit alleyway with nothing in its hands.

Features Chad Channing (one of four drummers who appear throughout) and a wonderful mondegreen: "heavy long-lost signal" is better than the actual lyric, y'ask me.

"Sliver"--B-side won again. Compared to "Dive," "Sliver" has all the heft and texture of the chicken noodle soup that brightened up many a crap childhood. "Dive" is the grilled cheese by the bowl.

"Stain"--A selection from 1989's Blew EP. Something about the mixdown on that record open-hand smacks me on the sternum, then uses my attention to wink and remark, "Nirvana are a band."

Chad Channing couldn't hold Dave Grohl's electric razor, but he's still better than I'll ever be, Krist Novoselic is a tower of reasons why using a pick is cooler than Jim Nabors and why yes that is the best guitar solo in a Nirvana song.

"Been A Son"--A re-recording of another song off Blew, and an early showcase for Cobain's feminism. (His like we have not seen since, sadly.) The differences are slight yet significant--the version here is swifter, slicker. Blew's take is scuzzier, with a more prominent ass. Both of them can show up empty-handed at any party I throw.

"Turnaround"--A Devo cover from the Hormoaning EP (released in Japan and Australia only, to coincide with tours) and what an intriguing choice. "Turnaround" was the b-side to "Whip It," not even appearing on the Freedom Of Choice album. Nirvana don't do much to the material, or with it for that matter, meaning Kurt's uncanny Mark Mothersbaugh impression is the undisputed highlight.

Beats what Soundgarden did to "Girl U Want," though.

"Molly's Lips"--The first of two Vaselines covers, originally featured on Hormoaning. I was far from alone when I muttered, "Who in the illegitimate hell are the Vaselines?" Spin magazine, I recall, hipped me: a twee pop duo from Scotland that sold 77 records, the Shaggs plus heart. Their guileless tunes are pretty much the opposite of Nirvana, yet Kurt worshipped them. The range of his tastes boggled near as much as his ability to fit so snugly into a borrowed coat.

"Son of a Gun"--The better of the Vaseline covers, although I prefer the original in both cases. "Molly's Lips" is a nice time out, while "Son of a Gun" is a nicer time in. Nirvana in the midst of deep-kiss bliss is just weirdly awesome.

"(New Wave) Polly"--Stripped of the feeling that made the Nevermind version so stirring, I'm left with an appreciation for how crazy good Dave Grohl is. He can drive a car and kick the back of the drivers seat simultaneously.

"Beeswax"--A musty compilation track that reminds me to mind mine. Dale Crover cleans house by beating on every surface.

"Downer"--Tacked onto the '92 CD reissue of Bleach, a faux-outraged political song that is…um…well, it's short, relatively. Cobain was far more believable when excoriating himself or immediate family.

"Mexican Seafood"--Taken from a late 80s compilation called Teriyaki Asthma. I am hungry. No, wait, just remembered the lyrics. There goes the appetite.

Kidding--my tolerance for gross-out wordplay is high. My only bitch is that the song is scarcely long enough for me to finish my second fish taco.

"Hairspray Queen"--Worst Nirvana song? Perhaps! How dare Kurt and Krist drag my birthday buddy into this morass of pig ass and cottage cheese. If Cobain ever cut a more irritating vocal take in his life, I'd be shocked. Dude sounds like the one demented aunt who never sends you a birthday present but knows exactly where you're going wrong in your life. The guitars sound like infected pisstakes. I get it was one of their earliest recordings, but that's a shoddy excuse.

Nightfall feels like a hose-blast of frigid water after exiting a sauna. Doesn't. Justify. Shit.

"Aero Zeppelin"--Dale's drumming and the "'Sweet Emotion' slipping on someone's day-old vomit" part is all I can recommend.

"Big Long Now"--Left off of Bleach for sounding too much like the dullest parts of that album, "BLN" is a dopesick fuckboy who yells himself hoarse trying to put together a table.

"Aneurysm"--Peanut butter and tuna fish…AHHHH HAAAA.

Tobi Vail musta had some top-notch good-good. "Aneurysm" combines the playfulness of "Drain You" with the bearded brutality of "Dive." Crank it, and take someone's temperature with your tongue.



Nirvana could have released 45 minutes of belches and Gordon Lightfoot covers and gone platinum. Incesticide surpasses that admittedly low bar. In addition to containing the greatest song they ever recorded, ti's also home to the last truly great set of liner notes, wherein Kurt Cobain avers to the incantatory allure of the Raincoats and Shonen Knife and defends his wife against scurrilous media before lashing out at the chicken-fried chucklefuck segment of Nirvana's fandom. Cobain straight up tells any racists, sexists and homophobes that listen to Nirvana that they need to stop listening to Nirvana. It's not a post on some social media feed that can be edited and deleted later on, he never issued an apology, it's all right there, in print, black and white, part and parcel of the Incesticide experience.

What happened to that version of the rock star? Where are the guys with the honey-roasted nuts to stick up for the less-privileged? Come on, dudes. The worst you can end up is dead. Which is gonna happen whether you speak up or not.